Systems for reading the balance of an electronic money card and processes for manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

Balance reader systems are provided that read the balance of an electronic money card and that are integrated into the sidewall of a wallet, as well as methods for making the same.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems for reading the balance of anelectronic money card and processes for manufacturing such systems and,in particular, to systems that include a balance reader integrated intoa wallet and processes for manufacturing the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic money cards are now widely used for transacting business.Generally, these electronic money cards are credit card size electronicdevices that have a data port that can be connected into an electronicmoney transaction machine that increases or decreases the balance storedon the money card, depending upon the transaction performed. Forexample, the electronic money card can be inserted into an electronicbank machine that can increase the balance stored on that card torepresent thereby the withdrawal of funds from the bank. Conversely, theelectronic money card can be inserted into an electronic cash registermachine that can decrease the balance on the card responsive to apurchase of goods.

Electronic money cards work well for carrying and storing data signalsrepresentative of electronic money. However, unlike conventional hardcurrency, electronic money signals are not readily discernible by a userwishing to determine the amount of money available to that user.Accordingly, electronic money cards require a balance reader that allowsthe user to determine the balance stored on that card. Typically, thesebalance readers are electronic circuit card assemblies sized to receivea money card, with a port for slidably receiving the electronic moneycard and with a display that can display to a user the balance stored inthat card. Although these balance readers generally work well, they tendto be bulky, and complicated plastic cases that are cumbersome to carry.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide balance readersthat are more facile to use and more convenient to carry.

Other objects of the invention shall be made obvious by the review ofthe attached figures and upon study of the associated detaileddescription.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a balance reader for reading an electronic moneycard. The balance reader according to the invention is integrated into asidewall of a wallet to provide a balance reader that is easy to carryand facile to use.

In one aspect, the invention is understood as an apparatus for readingthe balance of an electronic money card. Such apparatus includes awallet having a first sidewall, and a card sleeve coupled to thesidewall and having a first partition that houses a balance reader whichincludes a contact for electrically communicating with a terminal pointof the electronic money card, a second partition disposed adjacent tothe first partition and dimensioned for slidably receiving an electronicmemory card, and a contact port coupling the first partition to thesecond partition and disposed between the partitions to allow thecontact to electrically couple with the terminal point.

In one embodiment, the card sleeve is formed of a non-conductivematerial, such as plastic, vinyl, rubber, or any other non-conductivematerial.

The balance readers of the invention can include a printed circuit boardassembly, wherein the balance reader comprises an electrical circuitcard assembly disposed upon a printed circuit board. The printed circuitboard can be a flexible circuit board of the type that can be bent andfolded. Alternatively, the balance reader can include an electronicassembly that is formed on the first sidewall of the wallet. In thisembodiment, the sidewall of the wallet can be leather, canvas, plastic,or any other material suitable for forming wallets.

In a further embodiment, systems according to the invention include atelecommunications element for exchanging data signals across atelephone communication line. The telecommunication system can includean acoustic coupler, or can further include an electronic connectionelement for connecting to a telephone communication system and fortransmitting electrical data signals across a telephone network. Theelectronic connection element can be, in one embodiment, a conventionaltelephone plug for connecting with a telephone jack.

In a further aspect, the invention can be understood as processes formanufacturing a balance reader for an electronic money card. Processesaccording to the invention comprise the steps of providing a wallethaving a first sidewall, and applying to that sidewall a conductivematerial to form a circuit pattern for the balance reader. Optionally,processes of the invention can include the further step of mountingcircuit elements to the sidewall to form a circuit assembly thereon. Inthis aspect, the step of applying a conductive material to the sidewallcan include the step of providing a mask over the sidewall, as well asapplying a conductive paste to the sidewall, or further applying aconductive ink to the sidewall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 depicts a wallet according to the present invention that has abalance reader integrated into the sidewall of the wallet;

FIG. 2 illustrates a sleeve suitable for use with the wallet depicted inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts a balance reader incorporated into one partition of thesleeve depicted in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 depicts an interior wall of the sleeve depicted in FIG. 2 havinga contact port that extends through the wall.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 depicts one embodiment of the invention that can be a wallet 10having a first sidewall 12, a second sidewall 14, a balance reader 16with a display 18, and a receiving port 20.

As depicted by FIG. 1, the balance reader 16 is integrated into thesidewall 12 of the wallet 10. The bank card 22 depicted in FIG. 1 can beslid into the receiving port 20 to be read by the balance reader 16. Thebalance on the card 22 will be depicted in display 18 to alert the useras to the balance remaining on the card 22.

FIG. 2 depicts a card sleeve 28 that includes a first sidewall 30, asecond sidewall 32, and an interior partition wall 34. As depicted inFIG. 2, the first sidewall 30 and the partition wall 34 form a firstpartition and, similarly, the second sidewall 32 and the partition wall34 form a second partition within the card sleeve 28. The depicted cardsleeve 28 can be a conventional plastic credit card sleeve suitable forholding a first and second credit card within the respective first andsecond partition formed by the sidewalls 30 and 32 and the partitionwall 34.

The card sleeve 28 can be integrated into the wallet 10 by attaching theexterior face of one of the sidewalls 30 or 32 to the sidewall 12 of thewallet 10 depicted in FIG. 1. For example, the card sleeve 28 depictedin FIG. 2 can be mechanically attached to the sidewall 12 and thedepicted wallet 10 in FIG. 1 by gluing the exterior of the sidewall 32against the sidewall 12. Alternatively, the card sleeve 28 can bestitched against a wallet sidewall 12 to attach the sleeve 28 into thewallet 10. As will be seen from the following, the card sleeve 28 formsa housing that can house a balance reader for reading the balance of anelectronic money card and that can provide a partition which canslidably receive an electronic money card to be read by the balancereader incorporated into the card sleeve 28. In this way, the inventionprovides a thin, compact, and easy to use balance reader that isincorporated into a wallet.

FIG. 3 depicts an electronic assembly that forms a balance readersuitable for reading the balance of an electronic money card. Asillustrated, FIG. 3 provides a cut-away view of electronic circuitassembly 36 housed within the card sleeve 28, in that the exterior wall,either 30 or 32 of card sleeve 28, is not depicted to show in detail theelectronic circuit assembly 36 of the balance reader housed within thecard sleeve 28. The depicted electronic circuit assembly 36 includes adisplay element 38, an electronic circuit 40, a first battery 44, asecond battery 46, a switch element 50, and a telecommunicationsinterface 52.

The circuit assembly 36 can be fitted within one of the partitionsformed within the card sleeve 28. In one example, the circuit assembly36 is fitted within the first partition of card sleeve 28 formed betweenthe sidewall 30 and the inner partition wall 34. In this embodiment, thecircuit assembly 36 is fixably attached to the partition wall 34 toprevent the circuit assembly 36 from moving. The balance reader depictedin FIG. 3 can be a conventional balance reader of the type ofmanufactured and sold by Oki Electronics Corporation of Tokyo, Japan. Inthis embodiment, the electronic circuit assembly reader operatesresponsive to activation of the dome switch 50 depicted in FIG. 3 thatmakes contact with the battery 44 and 46 and causes the circuit 40 ofthe balance reader 36 to power up. By application of pressure againstthe circuit card 36, contact points on the opposite side of the board 36(not shown) can be pushed against the leads of a purse card placedadjacent to the circuit card 36. Upon forming an electrical connectionbetween the contact points of the circuit assembly 36 and the leads ofthe money card 22, the electronic 40 perform a read operation that readsthe balance of the purse card 22. The balance is then displayed by thedisplay element 38.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art of electricalengineering that any circuit assembly 36 suitable for being fixed withinthe card sleeve 28 can be practiced with the present invention, andsubtractions and modifications to the circuit assembly 36 describedherein did not depart from the scope of the invention. In particular,alternative embodiments of the circuit assembly 36 can be provided thatemploy an amphenol contacting switch element which incorporates thecontacting switch in a single device. The amphenol device can be usedinstead of the dome switch 50 depicted in FIG. 3 for activating thecircuit 40 to read the balance of the purse card 22. Further embodimentsof the circuit assembly 36 can be practiced with the invention withoutdeparting from the scope thereof.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, the circuit card 36 includes atelecommunication element 52. The telecommunication element 52 can allowthe circuit assembly 36 to couple to a telecommunication system totransmit data across the public switching telephone network (PSTN). Inone embodiment, the assembly 36 includes a modem chip and a miniatureloud speaker and microphone to form an acoustic coupler. In thisembodiment, the microphone element can be incorporated in one of thesidewalls of the wallet 10 depicted in FIG. 1 and the loudspeakerelement can be depicted in the opposite sidewall of the wallet 10. Theloudspeaker and the microphone elements can be separated by a distanceof approximately 165 millimeters or other distance suitable forproviding an acoustic coupler that can be placed against the handset ofa telephone couple the loudspeaker to the mouthpiece of the telephonehandset and to couple the microphone to the ear piece of the handset totransmit data across the PSTN.

In an alternative embodiment, a telecommunication element 52 provides atelephone jack to allow a telephone cord to connect to the circuit card36. In this embodiment, a telephone jack can be directly coupled to theelectronics of the card 36 and the modem chip can negotiate the transferof data between the card 36 and a remote site. Other embodiments forallowing the balance reader to transmit data across the public switchingtelephone network can practice with the present invention withoutdeparting from the scope thereof.

FIG. 4 depicts a partition wall 34 that includes a contact port 56 thatcouples the first partition of the card sleeve 28 to the secondpartition of the card sleeve 28. Further, the contact port 56 isdisposed between the two partitions to allow the contact of the balancereader to couple with the terminal point of the electronic money card.As depicted in FIG. 4, this embodiment provides the contact port 56 atone end of the partition wall 34 to provide a port that extends betweenthe wall 34 and which allows the circuit assembly 36 to electricallycouple to a purse card 22 by allowing contact points on the circuitassembly 36 to electronically couple, i.e. contact, the lead terminalsof the purse card 22. In this way, when the purse card 22 slid into thesecond partition of the card sleeve 28 and pressure is applied to theexterior of the card sleeve 28 to contact the contact terminals againstthe lead terminals, the circuit assembly 36 reads the balance of thecard 22 and displays it in the display element 18 depicted in FIG. 1.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art of electricalengineering, that any electrical interconnection suitable forelectrically coupling the circuit assembly 36 with the purse card 22 canbe practiced with the present invention without departing from the scopethereof, and that such an electrical connection can be formed uponsliding the purse card 22 within the second partition of the credit cardsleeve 28 with sufficient pressure to form a mechanical contact betweenthe terminal points and the leads.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the circuit assembly 36depicted in FIG. 3 can be formed directly onto the material of thewallet sidewall 12 depicted in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a conductivematerial can be placed upon the sidewall 12 to form a circuit patternfor the balance reader. Upon formation of the circuit pattern, circuitelements can be mounted to the sidewall 12 to form a circuit assemblythereon. The circuit assembly formed on the sidewall 12 of the wallet 10can function as the circuit assembly 36 depicted in FIG. 3. In thispractice of the invention, the conductive material can be formed on thesidewall 12 using a masking operation where a mask is provided over thesidewall and a process, and a lithographic process is employed to formthe circuit pattern on the sidewall 12. Alternatively, the conductivematerial can be applied by applying a conductive paste to the sidewallto form a circuit pattern of the balance reader, or alternatively, canbe formed by applying a conductive ink to the sidewall to form thereon acircuit pattern of the balance reader. Polymeric paste can also beemployed to form the circuit pattern and hardened by UV light to formthe actual circuit. Surface mount soldering can be employed at regularoven temperatures and leather will withstand these temperatures.

In this embodiment, the card sleeve 28 can slidably receive a purse card22 into a partition that is adjacent to the sidewall 22. As describedabove, the contact port can couple the partition holding the purse cardwith the partition that includes the electronic balance reader, suchthat among sliding purse card 22 into the first partition. The leads ofthe purse card 22 couple to the terminal points of the balance reader. Adisplay element can be disposed on the sidewall 12 to provide to theuser a display of the balance of purse card 22. In one embodiment, thedisplay is positioned above the card sleeve 28 such that the display isdisposed of location which would not be obstructed by placing the pursecard 22 over the circuitry of the balance reader 36.

It will be understood to those of ordinary skill in the art ofelectrical engineering, the above invention can be modified orsupplemented in order to provide alternative embodiments of a walletthat includes, integrated therein, a balance reader suitable for readingan electronic purse card. However, such modifications are not deemed todepart from the scope of the invention, and are considered in the skillof an ordinary electrical engineer. Accordingly, the invention is not tobe limited by the above description of the illustrated embodiments, butis to be defined by the claims as follows.

What is claimed is:
 1. Apparatus for reading the balance of anelectronic money card, comprisinga wallet having a first sidewall, and acard sleeve coupled to said sidewall and having a first partition thathouses a balance reader having a contact for electrically communicatingwith a terminal point of said electronic money card, a second partitiondisposed adjacent to said first partition and dimensioned for slidablyreceiving an electronic money card, and a contact port for coupling saidfirst partition to said second partition and disposed between saidpartitions to allow said contact to electrically couple with saidterminal point.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cardsleeve is formed of a non-conductive material.
 3. Apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein said balance reader includes a printed circuit boardassembly.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said balance readerincludes a flex circuit board assembly.
 5. Apparatus according to claim1, wherein said balance reader includes an electronic assembly formed onsaid first sidewall of said wallet.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 5,wherein said first sidewall includes leather.
 7. Apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein said first sidewall includes canvas.
 8. Apparatusaccording to claim 5, wherein said first sidewall includes plastic. 9.Apparatus according to claim 1 further including a telecommunicationelement for exchanging data signals across a telephone communicationline.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said telecommunicationsystem includes an acoustic coupler.
 11. Apparatus according to claim 9wherein said telecommunication system includes an electronic connectionelement for connecting to a telephone communication system.